Story Highlights

She didn't have a clue what she was getting into, what she was doing, or where the countless miles on the road would lead her.

It was an unknown journey that started with the urging of a friend to join her on a run in 2008 that has led the 36-year-old Baker to today's 119th Boston Marathon, a 26.2-mile race that brings together 30,000 runners from around the world, and takes them from Hopkinton to Boston, and that includes the roars of the Wellesley College girls and the infamous Heartbreak Hill 20 miles into the race.

From the River Region, Baker, who is running the Boston Marathon today for the first time, joins three men who also are running Boston: Robby Callahan of Prattville, Elmer Norvell of Pike Road, and Scott Pierce of Montgomery.

Between the three men, they have made 13 trips — including Monday's — to the Boston starting line.

"As a runner, I don't think that when you start running that you even know what the Boston Marathon is, or that you have to qualify," Baker said, referring to qualifying marathon finishing times men and women must meet to be considered for the annual race.

"You have to believe in yourself, and find this confidence and show that you can do it," she said. "Just over time, I just started figuring out that (Boston) was something I wanted to shoot for."

The road to Boston

Baker's first marathon was the 2008 inaugural San Antonio Marathon in Texas. The Pike Road resident finished the race in 4:38:50. She admits she had no idea what she was doing. Didn't know what to wear, how to train, and was there just to run with a friend.

Was she hooked?

"I wasn't hooked after the first one," she said. "After I was done, I thought I was going to die."

She's hooked now.

Today is Baker's 18th marathon, and while the process to Boston was gradual, she saw gradual improvement in every 26.2-mile race she ran.

She started watching what she ate, and she started incorporating intervals into her training, as well as her tempo runs.

"I still wasn't exactly sure ... still hadn't figured it all out, that right combination," she said.

But once she started running marathons in under four hours, she knew shaving 20 minutes off in order to qualify for Boston — her qualifying time is three hours, 40 minutes for her 35-39-year-old group — was within reach.

After running a sub-four-hour Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville in 2012 (she finished in 3:58), Baker reached out to her coach, Quinn Millington (a certified USA triathlon coach), and he tweaked her nutrition as well as some of her training. A month later at the First Light Marathon in Mobile, she ran a personal best marathon in a time of 3:46.

"At that point, I knew that it was within reach," she said.

But it still took time.

She decided to toss out the goals, and with the support and backing from her family and coach, just trained. Hard.

She ran the Tupelo Marathon in September 2013, and finished in 3:42:08, which was two minutes from her Boston-Qualifier (BQ) time.

She then ran the Marshall University Marathon in West Virginia in November 2013, and finished in 3:41:17.

One minute.

And she thought, "This can't be happening to me."

So she took some time off.

But she kept the miles up, and ran with her dad, Carl Viars, during his first marathon — Mercedes Marathon in February 2014 — and felt good. Relaxed. Strong.

And she told her coach, "... this is it. This is the time I'm going to qualify.

"I was fit enough. My mind was there."

Baker registered for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon. The race was April 19, 2014, the weekend before the Boston Marathon last year, which is always held on Patriots Day, the third Monday of April.

"Several guys in town were training for Boston last year, so I was able to chase them on some of their long runs, so it helped me get faster," she said. "The morning of the (Kentucky) race, I told my husband, 'I'm going out for a training run. But by mile 23, I knew it ... knew I'd blown away my time."

Baker finished in 3:32:41.

She had eight minutes to spare.

And she asked her husband: "Did this really happen? It's finally happened? I was just so ... I couldn't believe it.

"It just kind of proved to me that you can do anything if you believe, and set your mind to it. If you set your mind to it and let go of all your fears, you can do it."

The men

Scott Pierce, 49

•Residence: Montgomery

•Occupation: Lawyer at Cappell & Howard

•Family: Wife, Allison; children, Emily, 17, and John, 15

•Boston qualifier: 2014 Mercedes Marathon, 3:18:27

•Number of Boston races, including today: two

I'll be 50 this year and I decided last summer that 2015 would be my last year running marathons. I planned to run three final races and to make them all special ones. First up was the Montgomery Marathon five weeks ago. It was special for two reasons: I got to run a marathon in my hometown and I finally got to run one with my dog Gracie who does all my training runs with me.

Next is Boston, which I chose because it has a distinctive "runner's runner" feel that is like no other race I've done and that is hard to describe, but something I wanted to experience again. This will be my 12th marathon, but the only one I will have run twice. I loved it the first time and hope to really soak it in knowing it's for the last time.

I hope to run one final marathon in Athens, Greece, in November and then call it quits — (then) nothing longer than a half!

Boston has always been my favorite marathon. So to run Boston is my reward for all the hard work and many hours of time put in cranking out the miles. When I started running marathons 15 years ago, Boston and "qualifying" for Boston was all I heard about at the races I would run. It took me about five years before I actually was able to qualify — this was at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, 2005. The city of Boston welcomes the runners as if they are superstars and as you walk around the city with your marathon jacket on people are thanking you for coming to Boston and congratulating you for qualifying. I guess this one weekend a year is the closest I will ever get to knowing what an NFL or NBA or MLB player feels like.

In 2013, the world knows of the tragedy which took place. This race gave me resolve to continue to do what I love to do. I was not going to allow cowards to cause me to change what I enjoy doing. In 2014, this was a run to show support for the family of "Boston." My resolve to show the world that a couple of cowardly animals will not break my will and allow (their) actions to change the way we as Americans live our lives. 2014 was probably the most emotional race for me due to the effects of 2013. Year after year, the Boston community welcomes the runners with open arms and now in their time of need they need "us" runners to come and show our support for them.